If you are a rising aesthetic injector, you most likely already know one thing: getting your foot in the door can be a major struggle.

“You will not be busy right away. You may need three jobs for a bit. Expect to work hard,” advises Jackie Bischmann, BSN, RN.

Breaking into aesthetics is difficult at first. What makes it easier? The answer: building a strong brand online.

Your digital brand can make or break your ability to succeed in this space. Here is what you need to know about building your brand as a rising aesthetic injector.

Benefits of Building A Great Brand Early On

Start building your brand to set yourself up for success as soon as possible. If you have a long history online, you will look more credible, helping you lock down your first patients. A robust digital presence will boost your brand awareness and provide the perfect avenue to communicate with customers who spend much of their time online.

Creating an online brand in the injector space will also help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends while continuously expanding your knowledge and skills. It can even open up valuable networking opportunities with other injectors. Nicole Brustkern, DNP, FNP-C, CPNP, recommends approaching injectors you look up to and asking if they will serve as your mentor.

“Find local injectors that you admire and reach out to them directly about mentoring opportunities,” Nicole says. “Even if they say there are not any opportunities at the moment, they will absolutely remember your name in the future. All you need is one person to say yes, and you have got your foot in the door.”

Jackie Bischmann, BSN, RN, backs this up, explaining how vital shadowing can be. “See if you even like this type of job. If you are already in the industry and you are new, [this is] also a good idea to see if you can shadow someone… Do not be afraid to ask questions.”

Where to Start

Building a brand online is important. But where exactly do you start?

The first step you should take is to create an Instagram account with a Facebook page linked to it. You will need to set up your Instagram as a business profile so you can access the extra features Instagram reserves for businesses. Then follow the prompts in your Instagram settings to connect your business Facebook page.

LinkedIn is another platform you need to tap into. This is the best place to establish yourself as a knowledgeable, authentic brand. After creating a profile and a business page, follow relevant people and engage with their content.

Finally, you should also consider starting a website and/or a blog. Even a simple WordPress or Squarespace website can help boost your visibility online. It looks professional, gathers all of your information in one place, and makes it easy for customers to book with you. Plus, you can use search engine optimization (SEO) by including keywords like “best Atlanta injector” so your website will show up in Google search results.

Our providers recommend following these aesthetics accounts on social media to glean inspiration and knowledge not only about injecting but also about how to use social media marketing as an injector:

• @injectorbunny
• @pa_nicola
• @thetreatment
• @jubilant.julie
• @drtimpearce
• @thebeautynurse
• @dr.subbio  

Develop Your Brand Messaging

Your brand messaging is the language you use and the underlying values it communicates. You can outline your messaging by thinking about your customer, your brand, and what sets your brand apart from competitors. Define your messaging by asking and answering questions like:

• What is my mission statement and brand promise? (what you do and why you do it)
• Who is my ideal customer? What is the most effective way for me to communicate with them?
• What is my brand’s tone of voice? (professional, fun-loving, serious)
• What are my three most unique and essential selling points?

Your brand messaging ties in with your brand identity. Essentially your brand identity is what you want people to think and feel about your brand. Give your brand a personality, and then strategically use your brand messaging to get that personality across, evoking the emotions you want your customers to feel.

The final step here is to decide what content you will offer. Again, this will largely depend on your target audience and where they spend their time online. Choose from content like ebooks, blog posts, videos, emails, and social media posts.

Many injectors rely on posting before-and-after photos on their social media. If you do not have any patient photos yet, you might be at a loss, wondering what to share. The sky is the limit for what kind of content you can create! Share educational content (such as FAQs about Botox), inspirational quotes, or simply introduce yourself to put a face with your brand.

Define Your Brand Visuals

When your messaging is set in stone, move on to thinking about your brand visuals. This includes:

• Colors
• Typography (fonts)
• Photography and imagery

Visual branding is important because it makes your business easily recognizable. Visuals can also help communicate who you are and what you do. Remember when you defined your mission statement and brand identity? Your brand visuals will communicate these things to your target audience in the most effective way possible.

Do some research into colors, fonts, and the other aspects of brand visuals to figure out what will fit your business best. It can be helpful to scroll through other injector accounts on Instagram, getting inspiration from people you admire. You can also create vision boards on Pinterest to help you visualize what your brand might look like. Ultimately, though, you want your brand visuals to be unique.

“It is easier said than done, but be yourself,” advises Nicole Brustkern, DNP. “Authenticity takes you a long way in this field! Do not try to be like other injectors that you see on Instagram. Your clients will come to you for your skill and results, but they are also coming to you because they like YOU as a person… Present yourself exactly as you want to be perceived.”

Make sure you are only drawing inspiration from other injectors — not copying them. When you have decided on the visual branding elements that best represent you, stick with them. Use a free graphic design tool like Canva to create graphics or purchase content packs on Etsy.

Set A Schedule

Once you are ready to start posting, set a schedule and be consistent with it to see the most success. The more often you post, the more opportunities people will have to interact with your content, and the more exposure your brand will get. Posting often helps the algorithm favor your posts so you will stay top-of-mind with your followers.

So, exactly how often should you post on social media? Although it varies from platform to platform, experts recommend posting at least three times a week, ideally once a day. Try starting in that range and keeping an eye on your engagement. You can experiment with posting more often or less often if needed and see if anything changes. It is also essential to look at audience analytics and see when your audience is most active on social media. This helps you figure out the best days and times to post.

A social media scheduling tool like Planoly, Buffer, or Later can help you stay consistent. These tools allow you to view the week at a glance and pre-schedule posts to go up at a specified date and time. They can save you time and headaches when you are busy taking care of other parts of your business.

Another good way to save time with social media is content batching. This method is a productivity tactic where you create all of your content for a given period at once. For instance, instead of creating a new Instagram post every day of the week, you might spend your Friday afternoon creating five Instagram posts at once. You could also break this up further and batch social media graphics in one sitting and captions in another.

Engage Your Target Audience

After you have posted your content, your job is not done. You need to engage your audience and focus on cultivating a community. Your engagement rate indicates how many people are interested in your brand. And the more engagement you get, the more opportunities you will have to drive sales.

Nicole Brustkern recommends increasing engagement by showing your face as often as possible on your Instagram story. “Do not be afraid to talk on Instagram stories! And do not underestimate the power of engagement. Posting consistently is key, but [so] is liking, following, and commenting on other injector and local business pages.”

Make sure to follow other accounts and industry hashtags, and engage with the content you see. You can like their photos, leave comments, respond to Instagram stories, and even send direct messages to potential patients or people in your community.

“Reach out to other injectors in your area on Instagram and meet for coffee or drinks,” Nicole recommends. “Having like-minded people to consult with, lean on, and mastermind with is such a fun aspect of this industry.”

Kristen Doezie, MSN, BSN, RN, Psy-M, also draws on the power of creating relationships through social media. “Get involved in your community. Ask friends to re-post on social media. I find that just staying active and engaged helps to draw people in.”

And her best tip for increasing engagement? “I do a lot of polls and ask a lot of questions in the stories. Not only does this help with overall engagement, but it helps me get to know my clients better.”

At the end of the day, when it comes to digital marketing, you will get out of it what you put into it. So do not be afraid to put yourself out there and start connecting.

Getting Started

Growing your brand as an aesthetic injector might feel overwhelming. But it does not have to be. Here at Portrait, this is what we specialize in, and we would love to help you get off the ground. Talk to an expert today and get more information about how we could help your career see long-term success!

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